The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-03-24
HIS LAST SERMON.
LAST PULPIT WORDS OF REV.
HENRY WARD BEECHER.

LAST PULPIT WORDS OF REV.
HENRY WARD BEECHER.
on Sunday Evening, Feb. 27-Resolution
and the Necessity Of Living up to Fixed
Standards.
"And he said unto his disciples There was
a certain rich man which had q servant, and
the same was accused unto him. No
servant can serve two masters, for either he
will hate the one and love the other, Or else
he will hold to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and Mammon."
Text-Luke, xvi, 4, the first clause: II am
resolved what to do"
read in your hearing this narrative, this
parable of our Lord. The unjust steward had
been accused, and rightfully, of betraying
his trust and wasting that committed to him.
His master called him to an account, and he
was satisfied that the end had come, and be
communed with himself, and as the result of
that, and looking over all tho circumstances,
he said, "I am resolved what 70 do"
What he resolved to do was not very honest,
but it was very shrewd. Herssolved to make
friends Of all the debtors of his lord. He
called them up and settled with them in such
a way to lay them under obligations
gratitude to him. And so, although he and
they cheated the master, he made his own
nest warm and the master praised him-not
Jesus, but the man that owned the property
is the one. When he heard that he said to
himself: "Well, that Is shrewd; that is cum
ming; that is wise,n and the comment on it is:
Children OF this world are wiser than the
children Of light that is to say, men who are
acting in worldly reasons, for worldly reasons,
are very much wiser than the men becoming
good from the highest moral considerations
But that that they have selected is simply
this: II am resolved what to do"
What, then, is the nature Of a resolution
what is the scope of it, the potency? And what
ere the drawbacks? The self-consideration Of
these questions may throw light upon the path of
many of us, Now, our long effort of making up
our mind is equivalent to forming a purpose.
When a man resolves he means, or should mean.
to do something; and all resolutions carry, or
should carry, not simply the end sought, but also
the capable and necessary means by which the
end is sought. l am resolved to cross that river
| by the bridge by boat by swimming. To
stand on one side and to resolve to be on the
| other, without any intermediate means of doing
| it, would be folly indeed. am resolved to-mor-
| row to go to market. All the intermediate and
| implied steps by which that resolution could be
carried out are included in the resolution itself.
| resolution is a purpose in so far as simple
| things, uncompounded incompIex, are con-
| cerned resolution may be executed immedi
ately, without loss of time; indeed the greatest
| number of resolutions are those which, like the
| stroke Of the hammer or the explosion of the
| gun, are almost without any appreciabe inter
| lapse of time. II am resolved what to do
| Natural resolutions At the cry of fire the man
instantly looks out to what to do; at the call
| of a to step to the door and see stranger or
H. hn 40 ola
luton is latent in such by repetition he is
| not conscious of making up his mind
| In regard to a great many Of the acts of a
mans life, celebration-that is to say the action
| Of the brain-has become common that it takes
| place without any appreciable appearance of tax
ing place. multitude of things-if one gets in
| O crowd, and man would strike him, his defense
is not the result of reflection and yet it was in
him as result of experience tc protect himself;
and. If it be shadow, it is just the same, for a
shadow seems like substance, and he puts him
self In ludiorous attitude Of defense; he smiles,
and he goes on, but the action of the mind the
unconscious Cerebration is there.
! AS, for instance, in things that apply to the
now, that are uncompounded and simple, a man
resolves and executes almost at the same mo-
ment. The child calls from above Father "
and incidentally there Is no thought whether he
shall or shall not answer, yet the train goes on
without him and he replies My son, what?" Oh
the call has come to him for help and he in
staptly before the last echo of the sound dies out
of his ear, is on his feet, his way. But these
are very simple things; they are the primary
FORMS which afterward, becoming more and
more complicated, running through longer
periods of time, imply great many intermediate
steps. For "a man resolve that he will go tG
bed-is doesn't take long, either-he resolves that
tomorrow morning he VIII get up and go 'cruis
ing but tomorrow Is dark and stormy, and the
resolution is not half SO strong when he wakes VI
as it when he went to bed. There are O great
many considerations that come. Or the man re
solves that tomorrow he will go to market
neighbors come in; he waits; it is noon, and ther
time is too little to go. "And come again AnC
he puts it off until the next morning. So between
the resolution and the night-for one takes hold
upon the other-there Is . delay and the interme
diate history
Now, as you go on in Hfe as society itself be
comes more complex-civilization is growth il
complexity-as the things that you resolve to dC
or not to do are largely in their times and arr
clustered together by cause and effect, resolu
tions spreading over so long spaces and so mucl
intermediatism is somewhat different from tht
first resolve.
Resolution, then, means purpose, the will it
| self; and it includes In is, also, all indispensable,
intermediate steps; and some resolutions execute
themselves Immediately; some with some delay
!, some with long delay; some, throu "a many subor
dinate resolutions that carry out the primary
one And a man may resolve at a critical mo
|
ter of his life; yea, he may determine in any ont
single, final moment that which will take tn
whole of his life to carry into effect This is TIL
, case Of ten thousand men. When my father wa
, | young, a lad (he was brought up by substantially
an unce), he had in him all that was necessary t.
make him what he was in his professional life
But he didn't do it; lie was careless; he heed
less, he forgetful of things external: and 81
Uncle Lot Benton one morning, going out, founr
that being out late with the horses the night be
fore visiting some young company, the bride wa
placed over the water trough and the saddle wa
| horses turned in without halter and he said
, "Oh, well, Lyman will never make a farmer; b
is not fitted for it' And talking in the orchar
with him one day, he says Lyman, how wou
you like to go to college?' No answer. The,
, went on working all day. Next day, about tn
same hour, as they working together in tn
, orchard, Lyman says: II would like to 60 sir
, That settled it. In that beginning was a purpos
that shaped differently his whole life; it neve
) gave out; it branched in every direction; b
made what he was; that was owing to the part
ing; by not, he would have been q miserable faI
} mer; he made o tolerably good minister and
tolerably good father.
, So, then, man may form resolution withou
! | noise, without parade, but that with infinite sc
y | quences in its development. 1t may include il
itself q short process and an Intermediates it ma,
include in itself long process; il may include il
itself the whole scope OF mans life, and thric
ten thousand resolutions will be formed success
, lively to carry out the great primary resolution
which man makes.
, The general qualities Of the resolutions whic
men make are of every grade; even frail woman
} | walking in the boisterous March wind, may fin
that with all the sail she carries she cannot max
| headway against it, and supports herself by
| fence that is stiff enough to hold her until tn
wind luiis. And as it is in the community so it
| in regard to indivduals-there are mauy person
S who, left to themselves, waver; they do so some
8 times from good reasons sometimes from thos
: not so good, sometimes beacuse the purpose
were formed in moment of excitement and hav
nothing left OF them when the excitement cools
There is instability also arising from disability G
, I, organization; that is to say, man may be SUI
ceptbls while one class of effects is being pre-
d duced, and in that mood he may form a resolr
: ton, but tomorrow some other blessed, beautfU
. thing may come up, and he is just susceptihl
Of that and the secondary state Of mind obli
: J / Z % 81